How Aidan Garcia Honors His Best Friend Lucas at Shift Climbing

My name is Aiden. I've been climbing for around 6 months. November 17th was my first time climbing. Climbing to me was never never a cool cool thing. One of my best friends always asked me to go with him. I either never had the time or I just didn't feel like it. And he passed away November 14th from climbing in Utah. The following Monday at school, I just couldn't handle it. And I went to places where he would go.

Shift to me, it honestly feels like a second home. I'm here a lot and I enjoy it. Shift is super welcoming. I know all of your names. You all know my name. Every time I walk in, I don't have to tell the front desk my name to get signed in. It's welcoming.

Shift circuits have showed me how easy it is to get better and actually grow as a climber. Climbing through the colors and finally getting to black and finally sending my first black one was probably the biggest moment for me here. My favorite circuit would probably be red. Every time you guys reset the red, it's always a different technique. Your red circuit slabs have made me infinitely better at climbing cuz I have to try them over and over again. I like that you can't walk in when there's a new set and expect anything cuz it's always been different. Every set has always been different.

If I had to describe Shift in three words, I'd say inviting, unexpected, and bright. And I know bright sounds funny, but I say that cuz when I come in here after work, you know, I work 12-hour shifts. When I come in here and I'm tired, it it's a a great way to end my night. It's just it lights up what was bad in that day. I climb to make Lucas proud. So that's that's why I do it. That's my why. He was honestly one of the greatest people I've ever met in my entire life. I want to honor him. I want to do what he loved. I honestly regret saying that it was stupid and not wanting to come climb cause it's my favorite thing in the world now. I can't stop coming back. Even if I tried, I'll always come back.